819. Momentum, Resilience, and the Alter Ego

All right. 3, 2, 1. Let's get it. Welcome to another edition of what your problem, the podcast, where we explore solutions to three universal problems. We all face adversity, uncertainty and complacency. I'm your host marsh buice today. We're going to dive into some nuggets of David Goggins book. Never finished. In my random reading in the mornings, I set aside 10 to 15 minutes. I pull a book off the shelf, go to the table of contents, find something that resonates with me. And sometimes man, it speaks to me and I run with it. And today was just one of those days as well. So for context, let me read a little bit of a excerpt out of Goggin's book. And then I'll riff on that as always do. Goggins writes. A lot of people fall down when they get smacked in life. And when they hit the ground. They lose all physical and mental momentum. Because. They're humiliated. And when you're humiliated. It's impossible. To make any sort of progress. Goggins writes "You must learn how it's important, how to absorb lives. Haymakers. Without getting knocked down , because pushing yourself up off the canvas. Is one of the hardest, longest steps of all. As you fight to regain your momentum." Now let me put a pin in that momentum is super, super important, man. I can't stress this enough. Because momentum. Is what creates the success. We all know that. But when it comes to momentum, what's so sneaky about it. By the time you realize it's gone. You're too late. And it's going to take you. 10 times the effort. Twice as long. To get it back to baseline to even get that momentum going again. That's why I always say it's easier to keep it going. Then get it going. And so every day, man, You got to move the needle. That's what momentum is. And everyday, , you just got to invest a little bit more momentum. Now. It doesn't mean that you're always going to make forward progress. Sometimes you get knocked way back. But number one, did you show up number two? Did you do all you could, number three, did you challenge yourself and push beyond? And number four, even when you, God pushed back. Are you going to show up again? And that's what building the momentum is. It's so important in life. The people that have fallen and failed in life. Is the fact that they got humiliated, they felt humiliated. They got smacked in life. They got knocked in the mouth. And they lost their momentum that got knocked down. And they didn't continue on. Life's going to throw some haymakers at you. Life's going to punch you dead in the mouth. And even though you may have to take a pause. It's important that you never hit the brakes. The one thing that keeps Goggins going. And that he challenges all of us. Is to shift from external rewards. To internal rewards, external rewards are something that you're chasing nothing. Theoretically wrong with that. But the internal reward system. Is what keeps you iterating? It's what keeps you evolving? And Goggins says that if you shift. Into an internal reward system, You're always going to see growth opportunities. And you're always going to continue to build that momentum. Which creates exponential results. Eventually and ultimately remember that's the game we're playing. Eventually things are going to turn and ultimately I will succeed. But it's all about the momentum. It's all about shifting to an internal reward system. See, when you're rocking off of an external reward system. You need validation from someone or something else? And so you're always thirsty for that next handclap. You're always thirsty for that next reward. But what happens when you don't get it? What happens when either you have to quit or life forces you to quit? And everything that you had was based on that external reward system. This is why people can't recover. This is why people, unfortunately, off themselves. This is why people. Damage themselves excessive drinking, partying, because they're trying to escape. They lost the momentum. And it's so hard to get it back. That they just lose control of their decisions and their emotions. And that's what Goggins says is you always, no matter what, the adversity that you're facing. You always have to be in control of your emotions. And your decisions. So that way you can always stay in the fight. Back to the book cultivating a willingness to succeed. I love this term. A willingness to succeed. Despite any and all circumstances. Is the most important variable. Of the re-engagement equation. See what he said, re-engagement equation. And somewhere in the book, I was trying to find that this morning and end up reading this chapter somewhere in the book, he talks about the one second decision and the one second decision, he relates it back to cadets who were trying to become a Navy seal. And it was so hard during hell week and they were so cold. And so beat up and tired that they thought it was going to be forever. So when that one second. They quit. and decades later. It's one of their biggest regrets. They never recovered so sometimes what you have to do is when you get smacked. You got to continue to build a momentum. And part of the re-engagement. Is maybe you have to take. a mental and physical knee, you have to take a pause. Just to get your bearings about you, just to remind yourself of the willingness to succeed. And then you got to soldier on. If you'll do this. This is going to build your self esteem. Because you're going to keep commitments to yourself. This is what's going to increase your capacities. And reveal capabilities. You didn't even think that you could do. yet because you pushed yourself because you said one more. That's what? One more is building the momentum because you keep showing back up after life has smacked you down. You have no choice, but to succeed. And the crazy thing is. The number one thing. The first thing when adversity strikes, most people. The very first thing they let go of. Is there willingness to succeed. They blame it on fate. F a T E and they say, oh, it's just not meant to be. Oh, it's just not in the cards right now. Oh, but it was this person. See they're there. They're finger-pointing. Because what are they doing? They're looking at the externals. Versus when you shift to this internal. Reward. You have a standard. I'm Marsh Buice I got to show up. I got to do this. Because there's a lot of people. Who are counting on you? And there's even more people who are counting you out. Show up for both of them. I just rocked out of Annie Duke's book yesterday on my Instagram stories, check them out, try to post something every single day. And it's about. The exploit. And exploration. And so when you have a willingness to succeed, And you get smacked in the mouth. What's important is, is that you have the exploit you're going forward at all. You're committed. Yet you stay curious, that's the exploration. So no matter what you're going for, you're also able to zoom out. Look around, stay curious, question challenge, bring other things on at the same time you're going. For at all. It's an interesting duality. That most people are. So single-minded focus. And that's important. But you also have to be curious as well, because some things are outside of your control. Some things life will shut down. Some things you get injured and you have to shut it down. What are you going to do from there? And that's the thing people can't recover from because they lost their momentum and then they don't know what to do. But if you're always building momentum And you're committed yet. You're curious. You just continue to build it. You just continue to grind away because you have that internal system. Is talking to you. Now. You're going to hit the wall at times. Back to the book, Goggins writes in order to cultivate. Your willingness to succeed. You must perform. Without purpose. Whooo game changer here, you hit the wall. You have a willingness to succeed. Everybody's got that. Oh, I'm telling you, man, I'm gonna do it. Adversity strikes. You run out of belief, you run out of options. Nobody's there to champion you. You're out of money. It seems like it's all lost. This is where he got a shift into another gear. And perform without purpose. A purpose is important. I get up every single day. Cause I have a purpose to bring you a message. About adversity, uncertainty and complacency, because I don't care whatever age you're at. I don't want you to give up. I want to be living proof. That has never been, that has never too late. That's what I'm here for. That's why God has continued to keep me on this earth is to bring you this message and to remind myself of this message. So when you hit the wall, You got to perform without purpose. Meaning that you put the purpose on the back burner. Meaning that you don't talk a lot about it. You're still getting up every single day and fighting for it. But you just, you kind of shelf that thing. And you just go at it and performing without a purpose is a standard that you hold yourself to. It's the person that you say that you are, that you're committed to that you're no, there are no half-ass is there is no dialing it in. Whatever you're weak at you CA you fucking keep showing up and you work on it until it becomes a strength. This is where you got to stay creative. This is where you got to stay curious and you're constantly iterating and always looking for opportunities. This is where you got to become your own drill instructor. And. Develop that alter ego. And this is where I want to blow your mind. That alter ego. There's a super power for you. It's a psychological downshift. Downshift is where you get the most torque. To get out of situations. And so when everything's humming, yeah, you can Upshift, you can be in fifth gear. But when you get stuck, when you're on a hill, when you're in a rut you've got a downshift, that thing to second gear. That's an altar Rico. And the alter ego. Oh, it's so magical. You can name it if you want to or not. I don't have a name for my alter-ego. David Goggins has Goggins. Beyonce has Sasha fierce. Norma Jean had Marilyn Monroe. see, that was a a mythical figure. That they built for themselves. So they could be bold. So they could be courageous so they could drown out the boos and the silence. And the aloneness. I love the alter ego. Because. It won't let you stay in the past. And it forces you. Beyond your present. And so when you embody this alter ego, it's a mythical figure. It's mythical to some, when you explain it to them, they're like, huh? It's an avatar that you make. But it's, it's, it's a mental figure that you make. And it's a physical figure that you embody that you can't even explain it. You just are. And you embrace your imagination. Because your imagination should be more powerful than your memory. So I want to challenge you today. That number one, you have a willingness to succeed. Lip service isn't enough. You just do the thing. And when you smack the wall. That you perform. Without purpose. Because you have a standard to uphold whether it's your last name. And you remind yourself of how many people counted you out. Whatever it is. So willingness to succeed your perform without purpose. And then you develop that alter ego. Find that alter ego. Because finding that alter ego. will help you find another gear. And it's going to push you beyond yourself. Impose limitations. See, we all have a governor. We all have this, you know, those old school cars. I don't know if they have them today, but it was old school cars had a governor. So in other words, the manufacturer built the car to go faster. yet , there's a governor that when you mash the gas that governor kicks in and shuts it down, it won't let it go any faster. We have these governors. You were born without a governor. But as resistance. as circumstances. Began to pile up and your past began to weigh on you. That governor kicked in. And you've got these self-imposed limitations, developing that alter ego will push you beyond that. Dude, it's almost as if you're playing with casino house money. When you go into a casino, you walk in with 20 and then you're up 500. Well, then you put that 20 in your pocket, and now you're playing with house money. You playing with that 500 bucks. So you can take bigger risks. You can make bolder actions, you can talk a little shit. You can do things you normally would not do because you got house money. Because even if you lose. You still got that 20 in your pocket? You still got something in there. You came with what you had. That's what that alter ego is. That's that house money. And you develop that you got a million chips on the table. Put that 20 back in your pocket. Now let's go. It's like you become an avatar in Xbox game. And so, you know, you have extra lives because something may pop up and you got shot. You pull up another life and you continue on in the game. That's what that alter ego is for you. And so you develop that you get another life. You just keep going. So even if you get blown up. You continue on in the game. You learn, you analyze, you adjust and you show the fuck back up. For powerful thoughts that have stayed with me this week. That I want to pass on to you. Number one. Having an unwavering purpose. One day, I'm going to write about this. I just can't contextualize it all the way to pull it in a. In a full podcast, just not ready to hatch yet. But unwavering purpose. Is exactly that you wake up, you fight every single day, no matter what the circumstances don't matter, what the results are. You were unwavering. You are unyielding. Number two, a willingness to succeed. It's more than lip service. It's just whatever the circumstances are. I may have to take a mental and physical knee for a second to get a pause, to get my emotions and my decisions. Back in check. So I can say into the game. And then I continue on. And I perform without a purpose. Meaning that, yes, there's bigger things. I have an unwavering purpose, but some days, man, I got to go to the dark night of the soul some days, man, I gotta park that purpose cause I got to fucking fight. And I developed that alter-ego. What is that? Alter-ego for you. What's that alter-ego about what's he willing to do? Name it. Claim it. Let's go get it. All right, let's get outta here. Remember, keep it simple. Keep it moving. Never settle. Stay tough. Let's go.